Artist’s rendering of part of the Belmont Park arena development.
Photo courtesy of NHL.com

State hires law firm for Belmont Park arena project

By: David Winzelberg June 4, 2018Comments Off on State hires law firm for Belmont Park arena project

Empire State Development has hired a Manhattan law firm to act as outside counsel for the proposed $1 billion project to build an arena and entertainment complex at Belmont Park.

The law firm, Hunton Andrews Kurth, was recently formed through a merger of the firms Hunton & Williams and Andrews Kurth Kenyon. The Belmont project will be led by Mark Arnold, co-leader of the firm’s public-private partnership practice, and Carl Schwartz, co-chair of the firm’s global real estate practice.

Arnold recently represented the Las Vegas Stadium Authority in the development of a $1.9 billion, 65,000-seat domed stadium to serve as the future home of the Las Vegas Raiders, according to statement from the law firm. Schwartz assisted the City of Atlanta with the sale of Turner Field and previously represented the New York Yankees in their lease negotiations with New York City at Yankee Stadium.

The proposed Belmont plan includes an 18,000-seat arena in which the New York Islanders would be the anchor tenant, a 250-room hotel and 435,000 square feet of restaurants and retail shops on 43 acres of racetrack property.

The arena development entity, New York Arena Partners, is made up of Sterling Project Development Group, owned by the Wilpon family; Scott Malkin Group, a retail development firm owned by Islanders partner Scott Malkin; and the Oak View Group, largely funded by Madison Square Garden, which is owned by the Dolan family, members of which are also the majority owners of Newsday.

The plan is currently going through an environmental review process which is scheduled to be completed next year. The arena is slated to be opened in time for the start of the 2021-2022 hockey season.

A group called the Belmont Park Community Coalition has been opposing the arena development and may file a lawsuit to try and stop the plan.